At the Tuesday, March 12, 2024 Tahoma School Board meeting, the board unanimously voted to approve the hiring of Dr. Ginger Callison as the Tahoma School District Superintendent, effective July 1, 2024.
Dr. Callison was chosen after an extensive superintendent search process, which began in November 2023. Learn more about that process at our Superintendent Search Hub.
Watch Dr. Callison's message, which she shared at the March 12 meeting:
Transcript:
Good Evening, Tahoma School Board Directors, and all members of the Tahoma School District Community. I am so honored to have been chosen as the as the Tahoma superintendent, and I could not be more excited to be a member of the Tahoma School District community. Thank you so much for this opportunity and for trusting me to lead the district over what I know will be many great years for all of us. I look forward to solidifying your trust through transparency, honesty, clear communication, strong relationships, making decisions that are in the best interest of kids, and providing a supportive, rewarding work environment for our staff members. I'm extremely grateful for the warm welcome I've received and I've been inspired by the conversations I've had about what we'll focus on next year and in the years to come.
In case you can't tell, the Tahoma School District has already stolen my heart and I'm filled with optimism for our future. Something you'll learn about me is I begin nearly every conversation by acknowledging the strengths that we have. Because amid challenges, it's easy to lose sight of our strengths, and we need to draw on our strengths to persevere through challenges. As I mentioned during the interview process, and this is 100% true, I've followed the work of the Tahoma School District for decades, and I have great respect for the investments of staff members, family and community members that they've made during that time to ensure students have an outstanding school experience. I know that Tahoma is a community in which the community and schools are invested in each other. I'm going to work very hard to preserve the investments and gains that have already been made because of the combined efforts of staff and community members and ensure we continue investing and growing in the areas that are already strong.
We have critical work to do as a district and community moving forward. But as we look to the future, I want to make sure that we highlight, celebrate and hold on to the strengths that the members of the Tahoma School District community identified in the superintendent search survey.
Specifically: A culture that puts students first; A caring and committed staff; Supportive families and community members; Relationships, Belonging, Partnerships; A focus on teaching and learning; High standards for students; Options for students; Fiscal responsibility; Technology; and well-maintained facilities.
These are valuable strengths that developed after many years of hard work and dedication to the well-being of students, staff, families and community members. And they will be some of our greatest assets as we work to improve and continue growing in the future.
I also want to be clear that I know we have important work to do related to regaining trust, providing accountability, ensuring student safety, transparency in decision making, supporting students’ social, emotional and academic needs, managing growth and uniting the community.
Someone asked me of my daunted by this and I said, “Not at all.” These are attainable goals, and I'm very encouraged by conversations that I've had, and I know
people are ready to do this work and want to keep doing it. It's already started. I look forward to working with the board to develop a plan for my leadership of this work.
I appreciate the extra time in the community this spring to be able to get started, and I look forward to engaging in ongoing conversations with all district stakeholders to gain perspective of what people think needs to happen next. I'm looking forward to partnering with you and updating the Tahoma community in the coming months about what I'm learning, our goals, our planned actions and our progress. I'm also looking forward to getting to know as many people as possible, learning more about the community's dreams, ideas and challenges, and building strong, lasting relationships with staff, students, families and community members, uniting stakeholders, earning your trust
and working with you to ensure Tahoma students are thriving, safe, happy and Future Ready.
I will always listen carefully, learn from you, communicate regularly, and most importantly, keep my focus on students and their well-being.
I thank you so much for the opportunity to serve the Tahoma community. I will work tirelessly, courageously and joyously in the coming years, and I can't wait to get started.